Moonshadows
by Stardust of Orion
Summary: One night, while remembering Yue, Sokka has an unnerving encounter that will always stay with him. References to Sukka and Yukka.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own this story in its entirety. I do not make any money from this story. I intend no copyright infringement.

**Title**: Moonshadows

**Author**: Stardust of Orion

**Rating**: K+

**Warnings**: None really.

**Summary**: One night, while remembering Yue, Sokka has an unnerving encounter that will always stay with him. References to Sukka and Yukka.

**Author's Note**: Just as a quick note: this takes place a few years after the series ends.

* * *

><p><strong>Moonshadows<strong>

Sokka used his Kyoshi warrior training to slip silently into the room, not wishing to awaken the easily excitable child in the far corner. He slid quietly across the shadowed room. _Too easy- don't know why Suki says it's so difficult to learn to move silently_.

"Arghhh!" He suddenly found himself hopping about the room, howling in pain, trying to hold his injured foot close to him, but was quickly silenced by the muffled, "Sokka, be quiet," that drifted through the wall from his and Suki's room. He heard the boy murmur softly in his deep sleep, but otherwise didn't move.

He picked the offending toy off the floor- _a miniature metal Fire Nation ship…now where did Yahto get that? Must have been from Zuko_. _Damn Fire Nation…still causing problems_. He grinned to himself and gently set the ship down amongst the other toys in a green and blue crate before walking over to his son, smiling further as he realized he hadn't really disturbed the two year old.

Yahto was indeed sleeping peacefully, but Sokka noticed a slight silver fog ghosting from his lips, his little pudgy face illuminated in the moonlight. _Man, it really is getting cold tonight_. He pulled up another blanket from the end of the bed and carefully tucked it in and around Yahto before walking over to the window, intending to pull the pale wooden-slatted pane down to block out the cold air.

The moon caught his attention, huge and low and white in the painfully crisp night sky. It was one of those nights where the moon seemed so bright that it blocked the starlight, making the stars flicker faintly in the dark sky, barely registering except to those with sharp eyes. As was usual when the moon caught his attention, he began to drift away in memory, thinking about Yue. He couldn't help it. The moon always made him think of her; made him realize he still missed her. Before he married Suki, he had often sat staring at the white orb, wondering what he and Yue's life would have been like had she lived. Then, when he married Suki, he had taken to avoiding being out at night under the moon, especially a full moon. He loved Suki and his life with her, so he had tried to let Yue go and, for the most part, he had. Still, nights like this made it difficult to ignore and with everyone happily sleeping, he felt it was okay to let his mind wander for just a little while. He didn't ever want to forget his love for Yue, just not dwell on it most of the time.

Sokka propped his elbow against the window, hands on his chin, as he watched the moon and reminisced in his mind about Yue and the time they had spent together. Her smile. Her laugh. Her voice... His thoughts inevitably drifted toward darker memories and he found his eyes stinging slightly with unshed tears. He stared again at the moon, wondering where Yue was and if she still thought of him- if she even remembered her mortal life.

He sighed deeply, watching his breath turn into white mist. After a moment, he focused back on the moon, as if drawn inevitably by its light, though his eyes still stung slightly with cold air and tears. Trying to turn his mind from painful memories, he began to study the full round sphere in detail. It seemed so cold and distant, creating an ethereal glow around the orb that he slowly followed with his eyes, trying to discern where the radiance ended and darkness began. He couldn't. The glow seeped so slowly into the darkness, it was impossible to separate the two. Finally, Sokka let his eyes stray downward, dark sky shifting indiscernibly to the darkness of the ocean. The reflection of the white moon shimmering, oddly elongated across the rippling frigid black water, caught his attention next. He couldn't have said how long he stood there, letting the shimmering waters almost mesmerize him. He watched the moon seem to undulate, white and silver and black as it stretched towards him…or stretched away from him. Both thoughts, he realized with a slight shiver, made him suddenly uneasy.

Something about the darkly rippling sea and the white moon reflecting made images begin to swim and swirl before his eyes. Subtly at first, the water shivered unnaturally until finally he couldn't blink the oddness away. Dark shapes eddied in the water, eventually taking form as they slid onto the silvered waves. Moonlight and shadow flowed in and out of the sea, creating tendrils and limbs that seemed to puff up and take structure, no longer flat against the reflecting ocean.

A person- no, a child…but that wasn't right either…three children seemed to take shape against the sea, mirrors of the moonlight that now seemed to rise up in the ocean as images with their own separate shape and form. He almost found himself rushing out to save them from the freezing waters, but instantly knew that they wouldn't be there when he arrived. They weren't real: just moon-shadow and light and rippling waves in the distance. And yet-

He watched, frozen to the spot, as they seemed to laugh and play amongst each other, splashing and cavorting in the waves though no sound could be heard except the slowly lapping water against the shore. _If they were real…they would make noise, wouldn't they? They wouldn't be out in such deep water or in the dark_. And yet they appeared as two girls and a boy to his eyes. The two little girls were darker skinned shadows, the boy a silvery skinned reflection of moonlight. He could almost imagine one of the little girls was Katara- so much did she remind him of his sister when she was little.

He felt fear prick at his insides, suddenly worried that something terrible had happened to Katara; that the ghostly apparition before him was indeed his sister. He willed himself to close his eyes, knowing that it was merely moonlight and shadow playing tricks on his eyes because he could hear Katara's loud breathing from across the hallway when he listened carefully. They were darkness and light and nothing more. He breathed in the sea air, trying to calm himself. Katara was fine. Nothing was wrong. It was just his imagination.

A breeze picked up, pushing the heady scent of the salty sea around him; engulfing him. The sound of children's voices, echoing toward him as they drifted in on the breeze, made his eyes fly open. The children were still there, but now in the shallows- easily 30 feet closer than they had been- standing all in a line staring up at him. Their stares unnerved him and he could still faintly hear the sound of their voices echoing from the deeper ocean, yet they stood right in front of him unmoving and unspeaking.

From this distance, it was even harder to tell himself they were only a figment of his imagination. They were as shimmering shadows silhouetted against the moon, yet he could clearly see them in detail. They stared unswervingly at him, motionless as the water swayed around their knees. Moonlight sent tendrils of silver flickering out amongst their legs and up onto the shore where it crept across the sand making it appear as tiny silvered-amber glass beads.

Now he couldn't take his eyes off them, too terrified that they would be within this very room if he again let his eyes drift away from them even for a second. It would prove that his mind wasn't merely conjuring some strange dream; that they were _real_. He stared wide-eyed at the three solemn figures and they continued to stare unflinchingly back. He realized, with a start, that he could see the color of their eyes clearly. Two with bright blue, the taller girl with eyes a silvery blue color...like moonlight on snow. In fact, he could see their faces quite distinctly, for they were bathed in the moonlight, but that was odd too since the moon was behind them and should have cast their front in shadow.

Sokka realized with a jolt that he was filled with sadness staring at them. They were beautiful children with sweet countenances. As this thought passed through his mind, one of the little girls shifted and smiled up at him, her hair turning silvery in the light of the moon as she swiveled slightly toward the boy. She-

The wind gusted across the shore suddenly, slamming against the house and he squeezed his eyes shut against the sandy whirlwinds on instinct. When he opened them again the three children were gone. Whipping around, he saw that they weren't beside him in the room either, which he had feared. He no longer felt frightened, though he had never been truly frightened of _them_. He now instinctively knew, as if the thought had whispered to him on the moonlight and waves, that they were not ghostly apparitions _or _figments of his imagination. They were his own children: the children he and Yue would have had, could have had, perhaps even should have had, if only...

In sorrow, Sokka let his eyes drift shut for briefly before finally taking one last look at the moon. He reluctantly pulled the slatted wooden panel down over the window, shutting out the glimmering moonlight and salty sea air which made him think of tears. After a moment of thought, he smiled to himself and turned back to his son. He pulled a third blanket up around Yahto and kissed him lightly on the forehead, thankful to have this precious gift. He certainly knew now that his life could have gone another way, but given all the blessings he knew he had, he really couldn't bring himself to feel bad about all that had happened. Things were as they should be for him; as they must be. Still, those figures in the moonlight were a treasured gift and would occupy a place in his heart and mind; a place quite near to the space reserved for a certain silvery-haired princess whom he now knew still thought of him fondly. He walked quietly out of the room, stopping briefly to listen to Katara's steady breathing before continuing on to his own room.

"Suki, darling?"

"Hmm?" she mumbled up at him as he slid in beside her, the warm darkness of their bed enveloping him. He snuggled down beside her, breathing deeply of her scent as he nuzzled her silky hair.

"I never told you, but now I want to share with you the story of a moon princess…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>: Hope you enjoyed! As usual, if you have any questions/comments/ideas, leave it in a review or private message me. Next story will be in about a week and features Sokka & Katara.

Interesting Facts about Moonshadows:

-This story was initially inspired by a haiku (by Carol Purington): Cold moon, cold moonlight / Tucking another blanket / around the newborn. I had thought of Sokka coming in to tuck his child in and staring out at the moon as he reminisced about Yue, but somehow these children drifted through the moonlight and shadows in my own mind and called to me to show them to Sokka. Kinda creepy actually, but that's exactly how it happened. Strange how the Muse works sometimes.

-The title of this story obviously reflects what Sokka sees on this night, but it is also a reference to Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. (A wonderful RPG, by the way.) For those of you who are more curious, I'll tell you in brief what the title specifically references in the game. The moonshadow door is the shadow of a door/window (the door isn't actually there), where legend says you can enter to have your one wish granted. When played, the moonshadow harp allows memories to come alive for a moment: such as the memory of an ancient ocean (that no longer exists) appears and is able to move a boat (stranded far from the current ocean) out of the sand so it can once again sail on a sea. Kind of confusing, I guess, unless you are actually playing the game.

-The name of Sokka and Suki's son is from the Sioux, meaning "blue."

-The line: "They were darkness and light and nothing more," was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem, _The Raven_.

* * *

><p><em>Copyright 2011 by Stardust of Orion<em>


End file.
